03-May Nest Box Checking

After a week in the sunny Med, this week I checked 124 nest boxes; 92 were occupied. Many with eggs, some may have been miss-identified species-wise, after a while Blue Tit and Great Tit eggs look the same despite the size and shape difference.

Monday I checked the boxes at Peaked Hill/Aldernbridge Gully. Tuesday I first did my Clapton Breeding Bird Survey from about 06:30hrs and  then checked the Snelmore Common and Winterbourne Holt Boxes. Wednesday it rained again! Today, Thursday 3rd May, I did the Winterbourne Woods BBS and then checked the Bagnor Estate boxes.

I had intended to visit the Sand Martin bank as the water keeper says that no martins have been seen there yet which is a bit of a concern. There have been some quite big movement of them through Lower Farm GP over the last week or so. I didn't get to the bank as on the way my front brakes began to fall apart so I got the car to Motech, Ampere Road as quick as I could. Arrived just before 12:00hrs and they were very busy but put the Xtrail on the lift when I shown them some bits of disk pad that had fallen off. A full set of front pads, two new disc and a new caliper to replace a seized one was needed. I feared a weekend without transport. Fortunately they said they would repair it that day. A phone call two hours later confirmed it was ready to collect. Two and half hours from taking it in without an appointment to being repaired, good service or what; £451.04 hurt a bit, most of it was for parts though.

A Coal Tit is unusual for us, we have only had a couple before in over thirty years of nest boxing. It looks like Blue Tit may be out of sync again this year as most have incomplete clutches so they are at least two weeks from hatching if they begin sitting today and most trees are already breaking into leaf. Most Great Tits are sitting as are Nuthatch so they should chicks in time for the caterpillar harvest in two or three weeks time. It could go pear shaped for all if we get more heavy rain at the wrong time. It is a pretty good occupation this year. The Greenham Common occupation is a bit light but I think there are more natural nest hole opportunities there than at the other sites.

Species	Bagnor Estate	Snelsmore Common	Greenham Common	Grand Total
Blue Tit	17	34	10	61
Coal Tit			1	1
Great Tit	8	11	4	23
Nuthatch	1	5	1	7
Grand Total	26	49	16	92
Not Occupied	11	8	14